Best Doctors in Hawaii 2014 Fast Facts

The 2012 National Immunization Survey (NIS) ranked Hawaii as the No. 1 state for vaccination coverage of children, with 80.2 percent of 19- to 35-month-olds covered. The national average was 68.4 percent. The lowest rate belonged to Alaska, with 59.5 percent.

The National Women’s Law Center ranked Hawaii third in the nation in 2010 for women’s health status. That’s not as great as it sounds: We received an “unsatisfactory” grade; only Vermont and Massachusetts were rated as satisfactory.

Between 2007 and 2011, Hawaii County had the highest annual rate of non-fatal injuries in the state—636 per 100,000 residents, compared with 285 per 100,000 in the City and County of Honolulu. Almost all reported injuries involved traffic incidents.

1916: The year Honolulu got its first ambulance, deployed by the Honolulu Police Department.

1944: The year penicillin was first made available for civilian use in Hawaii.

By the end of April this year, 9,785 Hawaii residents had enrolled in health plans through the Hawaii Health Connector.

In 2013, Hawaii ranked 47th in the nation in state obesity rates. Hawaii’s rate is steadily increasing, however—the state Department of Health estimates that, without effective intervention, more than half of Hawaii’s adults will be obese by 2030.

Almost half of Hawaii’s practicing physicians are graduates of the UH John A. Burns School of Medicine M.D. or Hawaii residency programs.

Hawaii instituted its first mass immunization in 1839, administering a smallpox vaccine to between 8,000 and 10,000 Native Hawaiians.

Fast Fact Sources: National Immunization Survey, Hawaii state Department of Health, Hawaii Health Connector, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, JABSOM, National Women’s Law Center, The Trust for America’s Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Firsts and Almost Firsts in Hawaii.